The Joke's on You
by mattie911
Summary: After years of being beaten and abused by the Joker, Harley Quinn takes her life into her own hands, with Nightwing there to witness her strongest moment.


Nightwing ran the streets of Gotham City for the first time in years, on the look out for some sort of danger. He didn't know what exactly, but he could feel a certain change in the air, an allusion that something big was about to happen.

He hid in the shadows, just like he had always been taught. Nightwing smiled to himself as he thought of Bruce, a man he had grown very close to over the years. It killed him to leave, but everyone's got to grow up sometime.

Suddenly, he heard a shot ring out in the unusually quiet night, forcing him to investigate.

"Stay away from me," a female voice said, followed by several shots into the darkness. He recognized it immediately, only one woman had that sort of drawl.

"Harley," he said as he landed silently behind her. She turned to face him, crying, gun in hand. "Put down the gun." He noticed a body laying before her, an unidentifiable man groaning in pain. "Just step away from the man, and I can get you some help. I don't want to have to fight you, but . . ." he trailed off, leaving room for interpretation.

"Shut up!" she cried. "Shut up!" Suddenly, the fragile woman collapsed, throwing the gun away. Nightwing rushed forward, going to the man to check for a pulse. Quickly, the man became identifiable.

The Joker, an old nemesis, the foil of his mentor, looked up at him. Nightwing checked for a pulse, but the old trickster was long gone. He looked at Harley, confusion splayed across his usually confident face.

"Jesus, Harley, what happened?" The crying girl didn't answer. She slowly removed her costume, revealing her bra and underwear in front of him. Nightwing turned around.

"I just got so sick of it," Harley said, looking at the ground. "Do you know what it's like to be abused, and violated, and hated by the one you love?" She looked up at him, tears streaked across her face. "Cause it sucks." She spit on the ground next to the body, and sauntered over to Nightwing. "I'm done being the sniveling sidekick. I'm done." She threw the costume on the ground, and pulled out a book of matches from somewhere. He couldn't see in the darkness, and wasn't sure that he wanted to. Harley lit a match and threw the book down, lighting the entire thing on fire. In the sudden light, Nightwing could see the bruises that covered her entire body, some old, some not.

"You should get out of the city," he blurted out, not sure where the thought was coming from. "I won't tell Br-"he cut off abruptly, knowing that he almost revealed Batman's secret identity.

"Right," Harley said sarcastically. "Then where will I go? I got nothin'. Red would help me, but I'm over my head this time." She turned to look at him, as if seeing him for the first time. "He had big plans, you know? For you, for Robin, for Bats. An' I was the punch line every time." Nightwing shuddered, knowing full well what lay in stor for the punch line of his "jokes." Harley laughed maniacally, reminding Nightwing of the Joker for a tiny second. "Now he is." She looked back at Nightwing, wiping the tears from her face. "You should get out of here. I'll turn myself in real soon. I promise." She held up three fingers. "Scout's Honor."

Harley turned to go. "Wait," he called out to her. "What are you going to do with the body?" Harley kept walking away, until the light from the fire could no longer reach her. "Let it rot," she snarled after a moment, coming back into view, face contorted with anger. Nightwing couldn't help but smile. Her face returned to its normal cheerfulness. "See ya later, Robin," she said.

"It's Nightwing," he corrected.

"You'll always be Robin to me," she smiled, the color coming back to her pale face.

"Are you ever coming back?" he asked as she left again.

"Nope," she replied without turning around. "What's the point? I don't want to spend the rest of my life in Arkham."

"Then it's Dick," he said, still not completely sure of what he was doing.

"Dick, huh? I never pictured you as a Dick. I had you pegged as a Robbie or something." Harley Quinn turned around one last time to look at the Boy Wonder. "They call me Harleen."

And with that, she was gone, never to be seen again.


End file.
